Player News

Jesse Winker finally hit his first homer and finished 2-for-4 against the Pirates on Thursday.

It was a solo shot off Ivan Nova in the fifth. Not much was expected from Winker in the power department when he came up last year, but he surprised with seven homers in 121 at-bats. This year, he had gone 140 at-bats without a homer to start the season. He still belongs in the lineup because of his on-base skills.

David Freese went 2-for-4 and hit his fourth homer of the year Thursday versus the Reds.

Freese's homer likely would have made a bigger difference in this one if not for his miscue earlier in the game, when he had a toss from Ivan Nova go off his glove at first base, loading the bases before Eugenio Suarez hit a grand slam. The error went to Nova on the play, but it was a catch that Freese should have made. Freese is hitting a solid .260/.326/.466 in his part-time role this year.

Benintendi gets a night off against Rays' southpaw Blake Snell. J.D. Martinez is starting in left, Hanley Ramirez will DH and Mitch Moreland is at first base. Benintendi has gotten off to a solid -- if not spectacular -- start to the 2018 season, hitting .277/.367/.463 with five homers and eight stolen bases in 46 games.

Austin Meadows went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer Thursday against the Reds.

Meadows seems to like the majors; he has three homers in six NL games after hitting one in 32 games in Triple-A this year and four in 72 games in Triple-A last year. Heh has the tools to continue hitting for power, though not quite at this rate. Still, as successful as he's been, it's hard to see how he's going to fit once Starling Marte returns from the disabled list.

Sergio Romo will start Friday and Sunday's game for the Rays against the Orioles.

Romo will be on the bump to begin two of the three games against Baltimore, and on Saturday they'll put another reliever on the mound to start in Ryne Stanek. Romo will likely go an inning plus how many right-handers are still on the mound, and then give way to a "long" reliever. There is very little fantasy value in this, nor is there value in Romo's 4.34 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in 2018.

Wilson Ramos (hand) is back in the starting lineup and hitting fourth plus catching on Thursday against the Red Sox.

Ramos sat on Wednesday after taking a foul ball off of his left hand. X-rays came back negative, and he feels well enough to be back in the lineup against Boston. In 37 games, Ramos has hit six homers and driven in 22 runs with a .784 OPS.

Carlos Rodon (shoulder) will make a rehab start on Thursday for Triple-A Charlotte.

Rodon will be making his second rehab start of the year, and is coming off a start where he threw five innings and struck out six while allowing just one run on Saturday for Low-A Kannapolis. Assuming everything goes well and there are no setbacks, he should have a chance to rejoin the rotation in the beginning of June.

Buchter has been out since late April with a shoulder strain, but the fact that he's able to now play long toss is a good sign towards his recovery, albeit not a guarantee that he's close to returning. If there's no soreness, there's a chance that Buchter could begin bullpen sessions next, but there's obviously still work to be done before that happens.